Thief
by OrangeKittyCat
Summary: Someone steals Princess Bubblegums crown and Finn is out to catch the thief.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

A shrill scream rang through the kingdom and everyone recognised it. As they heard their Princess scream, they began quivering with fear. Being scared was highly dangerous for the people in this kingdom as it could lead to their deaths. One of the downfalls of being part of the Candy Kingdom: if you got too frightened, you'd explode and die.

Finn leapt to his feet, attempting to calm the people nearby him. But they wouldn't stop shaking. They just stared at him, the pace of their shakes quickening with every word he said. He groaned, regretting it immediately. The sound he'd made had been the last straw for an elderly candy woman and she'd exploded with a loud bang, causing three others to explode. Finn looked to Jake who nodded then stepped up to calm the candy people. As he did, Finn ran towards the castle, hoping to find what was wrong with the Princess.

As he approached the castle, he saw the Princess on the draw bridge. Beside her were two of the guards and Peppermint Butler was behind her. She was swinging her fist and cursing in the direction of the whole kingdom. Finn charged towards her, knowing he and Jake would soon have a new adventure. This pleased him. What didn't though was that Princess Bubblegum was upset and that something had happened to her.

"What's the matter, Princess?" Finn asked as he finally reached her.

"Royal possessions have been stolen which could end in disaster." She whispered sadly, directing her eyes upwards. This caused Finn to also look up and he noticed the thing he hadn't before. Princess Bubblegum's head was bare; her beloved crown was no longer perfectly placed on the top of her pink bubblegum hair. He gasped before he was able to stop himself and the Princess almost broke into tears. It was now clear how much it meant to her.

A bright crimson colour flooded Finn's cheeks and he hung his head in slight shame. He'd done something he'd never wanted to do: upset the Princess. "What do you need me to do?" He asked, a lot less enthusiastic than he normally would.

"If I saw the thief, I'd be able to tell you it was them, but I cannot remember their features. I'm sorry I must ask so much of you, but will you catch the thief for me?"

"I'll try my best, Princess!" Finn shouted more enthusiastically. As he did so, he jumped to attention and tried to make himself look ready. "I'll catch this thief and bring them back to rot in jail. Never fear for Finn is here."

"Hey, I finally calmed down those candy people. It took longer than expected because I made them jump again." Jake giggled as he made his way towards them. "I couldn't resist it, it was just too funny-"Princess Bubblegum gasped- "but I finally managed to calm them down completely. Anyway, what was wrong with the Princess?"

"We have a thief to catch and-" Finn started, but he was interrupted.

"You must do what needs to be done, boys." The Princess said solemnly.

Finn looked at Jake and shrugged. He knew that she had probably meant several different things, but the only thing he understood was that they had to return the crown and catch the thief. And one thing he guessed for sure was that she wasn't allowing them to kill the thief. Or was she?

"Good luck, boys."

/

"Who do you think would steal the Princess' crown?" Jake asked as they wandered into the forest opening. "I mean, why would you want to steal it? Yeah, it's a crown, but it's not worth that much. Not to anyone but the actual Princess. So why would someone steal it?"

"Who knows dude? Some people aren't right in the head." Finn replied, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't really care of people intentions anyway, he only cared that someone had stolen it. And he was happy to finally be on an adventure with Jake again. They hadn't been on an adventure for at least a week as the Princess had wanted them to do all sorts of things that weren't as fun as adventures. In a way, he was actually glad that someone had stolen the Princess' crown, no matter how disrespectful it was the think something like that.

"What if this person actually had a valid reason though? Would you ever- No, of course you wouldn't, you love the Princess." Jake laughed, emphasising the word love by dragging out the 'o.'

Finn's cheeks immediately turned bright pink and he hid his face, trying to act as if he didn't care about her. But Jake knew he still did. Jake knew that even after everything that happened with the Flame Princess and his 'depressed' state, which had been almost a year ago, he still cared deeply about her. He'd just learnt not to act on it again and try to hide it from everyone.

"You don't just stop caring about someone, dude. Especially not when you care about someone as much as you cared about-"

"Okay, okay, I still really like the Princess."

"I knew it." Jake chuckled, proud of himself for getting it out of Finn.

"Let's talk about something el- Wait, what was that?"

"Stop trying to change the subject."

"No, listen." Finn said seriously. The look on Finn's face immediately made Jake realise that Finn wasn't trying to change the subject, or distract him. Finn's face told him that he was being deadly serious. Nodding, though he wasn't completely sure why, Jake listened to see if he could hear what Finn had heard. And he did. In the close distance, he heard frantic splashing and worried cries.

"Let's go!" Jake said, tripling his size as dived onto his back. Now taller than the forest, Jake took twenty huge steps to where he guessed the noise was coming from, and shrunk to his normal size. And surely enough, they were now in the part of the forest where the cries were coming from.

In the river before them, the River of Doom, a girl was desperately waving her arms around, trying to keep herself above the water. It was obvious why she would want to too, considering which river she'd been unfortunate enough to fall into. The River of Doom was given its name because if you fell in and couldn't swim, you would fall to your doom. At the bottom of most rivers, especially in Ooh, was just mud or sand, but at the bottom of this river was a black hole. So if you accidently dropped something into this river, it would be gone forever and everyone knew that.

"We need to save her." Finn said loudly, then dived into the river. Jake stared at him for several seconds, trying to figure out why in the world he would try such a thing.

"It would be nice to have your help!" Finn shouted, helping Jake snap from his trance.

"What can I do?" He yelled, running to the edge of the river.

"I'll tell you when the opportunity arises." Finn replied, quickly swimming towards the girl. As he was approaching her from the back, she wouldn't have seen him, so as he got closer, he yelled, "I'm going to help you."

The girl didn't reply, but Finn guessed that it may be from exhausted and proceeded to help her regardless of whether she wanted him to do. As he got closer to her, he noticed a purple shoulder bag that was dragging her down. Taking a deep breath, Finn dived down a little and tugged the bag from her clenched fists. As he did, she began to flail around even more, this time more angrily. And as she did, Finn realised why the bag had been dragging her down; it was really heavy.

"Take this bag, Jake." Finn shouted as his rose above the water. Jake nodded and quickly obeyed his friend's orders, stretching his arm and wrapping it round the bag, quickly realising why it had been such a burden.

As soon as the bag was out of Finn's arms, he managed to keep himself above the water and swim with ease, but he could see that the girl wasn't having the same luck. He swam towards her and wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her upwards and onto the river bank.

She coughed out a load of water and lay down on the grass, completely exhausted. Now that she was out of the river, Finn could see her properly. He sat down before her and looked her, ignoring the weird look Jake gave him. He'd never seen anyone like her; she wasn't like the rest of the people in Ooh. Just by looking at her, Finn knew she was different, but he didn't know why.

"Where's my bag?" She panted, getting past the part where she'd be afraid of them or thanking them and just hoping they weren't trying to kill her.

"My friend Jake has it. What's even in the bag?" Finn asked curiously.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." Jake said loudly above a loud clattering noise.

"No, my bag!" She shouted, bolting to her feet and over to the pile. But she was too late; Jake had already emptied the contents on the floor. Finn got to his feet and looked at the contents that had almost killed them both. The first things he spotted were a pile of thick books, ones that were in a trilogy about a wizard that was almost killed several times by another wizard with no nose or something, and a green hoodie with some type of snake on it. Besides that was a miniature blue box with windows and this long silver thing that had a flashy blue thing on the end. Next to that was Princess Bubblegum's crown and next to that was- Wait, Princess Bubblegum's crown.

"You're the thief." Finn gasped, turning to face the girl and pointing an accusing finger at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"No, I'm not a thief." The girl shouted, suddenly getting extremely angry. "Princess Bubblegum is the thief."

"You, whoever you are, have absolutely no right to call PB a thief!" Finn snapped, his face going bright red as he did so. Jake just raised his eyebrow.

"My name is Kiera, but you can call me Kie." She whispered, lowering her head to look at her feet. She didn't appreciate being called a thief and she didn't like being shouted at. And they didn't know the truth; they had no right to judge her.

Finn immediately felt bad, though he wasn't sure why. Why should he feel bad for a thief? Why should he feel bad for a criminal? Even if he did think she was beautiful and even if he knew she was different to everyone else he'd encountered. She'd stolen Princess Bubblegum's crown which made her a thief. And thieves don't need pity. They don't deserve it.

"You don't know the story." Kiera said as she lowered herself to the ground. She crossed her legs and balanced her left elbow on one of her knees, resting her face in the palm of her left hand.

"Then tell us." Finn suggested, sitting down before her and gesturing for Jake to come over. He expected her to start telling the story the second he sat down, but she just sat in silence, staring into the distance. Sighing, Finn looked at her and took a moment to admire her. She was about the same age and height as Finn, but was much thinner. Her short hair was bright purple and reminded Finn of his favourite kind of bubblegum.

Kiera moved her head and looked Finn directly in the eyes. He wanted to ask her to begin the story, but he got distracted by her eyes. Even when she turned away to see if Jake was listening, he still continued to stare into space. He thought he eyes were the most beautiful shade of green that he'd ever seen. They reminded him of home, and everything that made him happy. He had seen a warm glow in her eyes, a glow of kindness, honesty and trust, and he couldn't believe that someone who gave off that impression could be a thief.

"Okay, I'll tell you." Kiera whispered, snapping Finn out of his trance. "Princess Bubblegum wasn't supposed to have the throne. None of her family was. But her sister was good friends with my father so they gave her the throne. That may not make sense yet, but it will do soon. My father was the king of the Candy Kingdom. He was a good ruler, inheriting the throne when he turned eighteen and ruling since. Everyone loved him and looked up to him. Then he met my mother. He fell in love with her and married her. This was what started everything off. The Candy people liked my mother, but what they didn't expect what was a child."

Kiera stopped abruptly and got to her feet. She trudged towards her shoulder bag and shoved several things inside.

"Is that the end of the story?" Finn asked, scratching his head with confusion; he didn't understand how that explained anything.

"Of course it's not. We're just going to see my poor father."

"Why?" Finn asked, still confused.

"You may recognise him and that will help you realise I'm telling the truth. Because I am telling the complete truth. Princess Bubblegum is just a liar and a thief." Kiera explained whilst continuing to place stuff inside her bag. She was just about to pick up the crown when Jake snatched it.

"I don't believe any of it. Come on, Finn. We need to go give this to Princess Bubble-"

"Hold on a minute, she might be telling the truth."

"WHAT?!" Jake gasped, wondering whether he'd heard his friend right.

"Just give me a chance." Kiera pleaded.

/

"That's where you live?" Finn questioned, surprised that'd two people would be able to live in such a small hut. Kiera nodded.

"When you've been thrown from the kingdom, it's not easy to find a place to live. We have some money, but we don't want another house. This is home." She said, unbolting and opening the flimsy wooden door.

Finn and Jake followed Kiera into her house, but they both stopped as they reached the doorway, surprised at how crammed full it was. Against the far way was a large stone fireplace, beds crammed into the corners either side of it. A small set of drawers were either side of the door they'd came through which had books piled onto the top and clothes spilling over the edges of each draw. Possessions were covering the entire floor apart from a small space beside the fireplace where Finn guessed they ate.

"My father is in his bed; he's sick." Kiera whispered, dumping her bag onto her own bed and leading them towards him.

"Wait, isn't that PB's father?" Finn asked, scratching his head once more with confusion. "She said he was a great ruler but... died early. She lied."

"I told you she was a liar." Kiera whispered as she moved away from her father and lowered herself beside the fireplace. "But that's not the end of my story."

Finn and Jake nodded, finally realising that Kiera was telling the truth. They both followed her and sat at the other end of the fireplace, listening intently.

"I didn't mention it before, but my mother was human. When my father married her, he was afraid people would discriminate against him and begin to hate his rule. But they didn't. Not until my mother became pregnant. The Candy people just believed she was getting fat, or those that new she was pregnant believed she would give birth to a Candy person or a human. They were wrong. She gave birth to me. And I'm not human. I'm not made of candy either. I'm both."

Finn gasped, staring at her with disbelief. How could someone be both candy and human?

"I look human to you, don't I? Most people believe I'm human, but they think I just always smell of sweets. But they're wrong." Kiera whispered, pulling a lump of hair from her head. It took the exact same shape Princess Bubblegum's had and when Finn took it, it felt the same. Then he realised why her hair had reminded him of his favourite purple bubblegum; her hair was purple bubblegum.

"That's not all of my candy like traits. One day you may see the others, but for now I'll just tell you. When I spit, it's that purple sour liquid, if I cry, my tears are purple and my blood is a dark bluey-purple."

"What happened though?" Finn asked; he still didn't understand everything. If she was everything she said, then why wasn't her father ruling and why wasn't she the heir to the throne?"

"They didn't understand what I was. And I scared them. They believed it was un-natural and that they'd defied the law of physics. They believed my family had brought shame on the world and they banished them, taking my father from the throne.

Princess Bubblegum's sister inherited the throne as she had been close to my father once, so much she was like a daughter. They only believed it was fair. She lied and told everyone her father had passed away, leaving the kingdom to her. Her sister ruled for six years, which isn't very long in the Candy Kingdom. And I'll tell you why. Princess Bubblegum had always been interested in science, but when she was 10, she tried her first experiment. She killed her sister accidently, but framed the next in line.

Princess Bubblegum then got to rule the kingdom with the help of others and she's been living that lie for nine years now. People forgot she had a sister, people forgot about my father. They believe her words; they believe she inherited the kingdom from her father who sadly passed away."

"That's impossible." Finn said bluntly, refusing to believe Princess Bubblegum would do such a thing.

"But it's the horrific truth. I stole the crown because it rightfully belongs to my family and to me. I have no intention of stealing the kingdom or her throne, I just wanted the crown. If you let my family keep what is rightfully ours, we will let Princess Bubblegum live her lie and I will help you craft a new one for her. I just want the crown. And I can keep it and she can keep her lie if you just lie to her once."

Finn stopped and thought for a minute. He didn't know what to do and more than that, he didn't know who to believe. Scratching his head, he looked to Jake for help, but he just shrugged. Finn closed his eyes and thought about it. He thought about what would benefit them more and the ways he could help everyone. And he thought about the lie. Would he be able to pull it off and live with that for the rest of his life just to let Kiera keep the crown? She did say she'd leave the kingdom alone if he let her. And she promised to help.

He sighed, handing her the crown that was rightfully hers. "I'll do it."


End file.
